CHUMPHON: Land beneath tollets next to a market in this southern province has been excavated after a man told police that he had buried his wife there two years ago.
The excavation came after vendor and palm farmer Somboon Sukmontree, 52, told police his 58-year-old wife Bupha Amphai, 58, fainted and died two years ago, and because he could not afford a funeral, he buried her body on an empty land plot, where toilets were later built, in front of their rented house in Langsuan district .
His confession followed a complaint filed by his grownup daughter and son about the alleged corpse concealment.
Media reported that his daughter Amporn Amphai, 24, had searched for her mother for two years. Her father had repeatedly told her that her mother had left and was staying with relatives elsewhere. She said she recently dreamt of her mother complaining to her that she felt cold, reports said.
Last Sunday, her younger brother Sommai, 17, finally told her that he had seen his father dragging the body to the plot and burying it. The father ordered the son to keep it secret.
The children said their mother was alcoholic and often fainted. Mr Sommai left his father's house and went to live with his sister in Tha Chana district of Surat Thani after the alleged burial.
Local police brought Mr Somboon and his son to the makeshift grave, an area next to Morakot 2 market on Khao Ngern Road where toilets had been built. The two pointed out two spots close to one another, and the owner of the market then deployed a backhoe to excavate the ground. After digging a crater about two metres deep, four metres wide and 10 metres long, there was still no sign of the remains.
Police were seeking permission from the market's owner to expand the area of excavation.